BC-APFN-Business News Preview

December 7, 2018

Among the stories Friday from The Associated Press:

TOP STORIES:

ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT — U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in November, a slowdown from recent months but enough to suggest that the economy is expanding at a solid pace despite sharp gyrations in the stock market. The unemployment rate remained 3.7%, nearly a five-decade low, for the third straight month. By Christopher Rugaber. SENT: 690 words, photos. UPCOMING: Will be expanded.

With:

— ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT-DEMOGRAPHICS-GLANCE

— ECONOMY-JOBS REPORT-INDUSTRIES-GLANCE

CHINA-HUAWEI — The arrest of a prominent Chinese telecommunications executive has driven home why it will be so hard for the Trump administration to resolve its deepening conflict with China. By Paul Wiseman and Frank Bajak. SENT: 1,100 words, photos.

TRUMP RESORT-ILLEGAL WORKERS — Two women who cleaned rooms set aside for President Donald Trump at one of his golf resorts in New Jersey say they used false papers to get hired, their supervisors knew it and that many employees there also lack legal documents. By Bernard Condon. SENT: 550 words, photo. First moved Thursday night.

JAPAN-FOREIGN LABOR — Japan is set to approve legislation that would officially open the door to foreign workers to do unskilled jobs and possibly eventually become citizens. Lawmakers were due to vote late Friday on a government proposal to allow hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers to live and work in a country that has long resisted accepting outsiders. By Mari Yamaguchi. SENT: 950 words, photos.

MARKETS & ECONOMY:

FINANCIAL MARKETS — Stocks are edging higher in the early going on Wall Street as trading settles down following a wild ride the day before. SENT: 450 words, photos. UPCOMING: 700 words by 5 p.m.

OPEC MEETING — OPEC countries are mulling a possible cut to oil production in an attempt to stabilize prices as they meet for a second straight day. SENT: 140 words, photos.

ALTRIA-MARIJUANA — One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is diving into the cannabis market with a $2.4 billion investment in Cronos Group, a Canadian medical and recreational marijuana company. Altria, which makes Marlboro cigarettes, is taking a 45 percent stake in the Toronto company. SENT: 290 words, photos. UPCOMING: Will be updated.

JAPAN-NISSAN — Nissan, the Japanese automaker under scrutiny after its former chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of financial misconduct, is recalling 150,000 vehicles spanning 11 models in Japan for dubious inspections for brakes and steering. By Yuri Kageyama. Sent 490 words, photos.

US OIL ASSESSMENT-PERMIAN BASIN — Some of the largest energy companies in the U.S. have already invested billions of dollars on claims up and down the Texas-New Mexico state line, tapping one of the nation’s richest and most prolific oil and natural gas regions. Now the stakes just got higher, as the U.S. Geological Survey announced Thursday that portions of the Permian Basin could potentially hold more than 46 billion barrels of oil and some 280 trillion cubic feet of gas. The agency says that’s the largest continuous oil and gas resource potential ever assessed. Whether it would be profitable to go after the resources is another question. By Susan Montoya. UPCOMING by 4 p.m.

TECHNOLOGY & MEDIA:

CANADA-GOOGLE-TORONTO — The chairwoman of a government organization that signed a partnership with a Google affiliated company to create a smart-city development in Toronto said she and two other appointed board members have been fired. By Rob Gillies. SENT: 370 words.

AUSTRALIA-ENCRYPTION-LAW — New Australian cybersecurity laws that force global technology companies such as Facebook and Google to help police by unscrambling encrypted messages sent by extremists and other criminals were urgently needed to safeguard Australia, the prime minister says. By Rod McGuirk. SENT: 780 words, photos.

INTERNATIONAL:

FRANCE-PROTESTS — The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum in Paris will be closed on Saturday as French authorities tighten security to prevent another outbreak of violence following three weeks of anti-government protests. By Samuel Petrequin. SENT: 760 words, photos.

NOBEL PRIZES — A winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics who advocates for carbon taxes as the best way to address the problems of greenhouse gas emissions says he does not expect U.S. President Donald Trump to make any moves toward accepting that view. By Ivana Bzganovic. SENT: 530 words.

BREXIT — British Prime Minister Theresa May sends 30 members of her government around the country to rally popular support to pressure lawmakers to approve her Brexit agreement on leaving the European Union. By Danica Kirka. SENT: 690 words, photos.

GERMANY-ECONOMY — Official figures show that factory production in Germany declined in October in another sign that Europe’s largest economy may be slowing. SENT: 130 words.

PORTUGAL-STRIKES — A walkout by rail workers over pay is disrupting Portuguese train services amid a spate of strikes by government employees. SENT: 140 words.